


Dawn

by TheJKWolf



Series: Mario Universe [2]
Category: Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: Dimentio is the magicians son theory, Gen, Mimi and O'Chunks make a brief appearance, Nastasia centred, Post-Game, Thinking, hopeful end, more or less, pixl queen is dimentios sister theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:02:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJKWolf/pseuds/TheJKWolf
Summary: The end of the world has been averted, Blumiere and Timpani are gone and Dimentio is dead. Nastasia makes one last walk through the dark halls of the castle, reflecting on what has happened and what may have driven a jester to do what he did.
Series: Mario Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902637
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> A little sequel to At night, althought it is readable on its own. I still recommend to read that one first. 
> 
> I played with the Idea of the theory that went around, with Dimentio being the magicians son and his sister ending up as the pixl queen.

The gravestone they had picked for the Count and Timpani was plain. Not a gravestone, Nastasia reminds herself, but a memorial. They don’t know what happened to them. They all like to think that they are still around, finally together, but it isn’t easy to ignore the voice in her head whispering otherwise. 

Nastasia glances at the stone, focusing on the butterfly engraved on it, and silently muses that it might as well be a gravestone. She won’t be able to see the Count ever again. And he is with his beloved anyways. 

Maybe it is better this way. The last few weeks were stifling. Feeling trapped in a loop, not being able to get closer to what she wanted, she felt glued to one place. She feels like she can finally breathe again, even if the air feels cold in her heart.

She lets out a sigh, adjusts her glasses and turns around, ready to go back and finish her preparations to leave the castle.

They had cleared out most of the rubble that got in their way but there are still a lot of unpassable rooms. The Void was already nipping at the castle while they fought inside of it. It was a miracle it still stood, stubbornly facing storm and sun everyday, and keeping in those last breaths.

Picking up the last of her belongings – mostly books – she finishes clearing her room. She could have put those in a suitcase already, sparing her the walk back through the dark hallways.

But she didn't. She wasn't ready then, and certainly not ready now, to let go of the last physical reminder she had of the Count. 

The castle wasn't a home. But it has been a place to come home to, nonetheless. Something she hadn’t had for a long time before the Count had rescued her.

But he was gone now, and what is left of them had decided to go their own way. Not to cut off their relationships completely but they all agreed that they needed some time for themselves.

Princess Peach had a hand in this, of course. By sparing them a fate of imprisonment or similar, under the restriction that they don’t show themselves for a long time, she gave them a second chance. She had a knack for it, pulling the right strings to gain people's favour.  
Nastasia admits that she underestimated her, dismissing her as a simple princess living life with no hardship. 

Mimi told her she wants to go explore other worlds. Wandering around, seeing new places and meeting new people. She seemed to have found new hope, searching for her own luck this time.

Nastasia was a bit worried about O’Chunks, who had already lost so much before he even joined them. He needed a purpose in life to function and she wasn't sure if he could move on. But a curious connection formed between him and the Koopa King. She saw them talking a day or two ago, joking with each other. Exchanging ideas with someone of similar mindset seemed to help. As far as she knows, he wants to go around, helping people rebuild their homes they lost because of the Void.

She isn’t sure what she wants to do. Most of her life, she has given her time to others, not putting herself first. With the Count and her purpose gone, she doesn’t have any direction to go.

Finally, she steps outside her room, daring not to look back, and strides as determined as she manages down the hallway, only sparing a glance to the rooms she passes by.

Until she doesn’t, stopping abruptly and staring into the way where Dimentio’s room lay. He never liked to share anything personal with them and made sure that nobody came close to him. His room was the furthest away, making it an effort to go there without any means to teleport directly.

Nastasia never cared for him, as long as he pulled his weight. After their talk that one night, she spared a few thoughts for him, but he never acted upon the encounter and the development of the Void soon occupied her whole day.

But now curiosity gets the better of her and she starts walking to that room. Hesitant at first, as if expecting him to appear out of nowhere, but nothing happens and her steps grow more confident the closer she gets to his quarters.

The door is wide open and for some reason she is disappointed. A silly notion, really. Expecting a room full of decorations wasn't Dimentio’s style at all. He, who kept his distance behind his ever present smile, his lofty personality and only ever teasing and taunting as means to communicate, wouldn't have a banner in his room, in big bold letters his favorite tennis team.

Nastasia walks in anyway, because she already took the way here and she would be damned if she doesn't find anything to show that someone lived here.

She inspects the room with a sudden spike of energy, scanning the walls and closet, and even looking under the bed to find anything.

She wonders a bit about her stubbornness to discover more about the jester.

Maybe it was the little glimpse she saw that night, a side of him that was so drastically different from his usual self, that got her so worked up. She wants to find a connection between their conversation, his actions and in the end, his betrayal.

She halts in her movement to open the drawer. 

His Betrayal

Those words take her back to the conversation Mimi, O'Chunks and she had a few days ago. They had finished the memorial for Blumiere and Timpani. The red hero stopped by too – and Princess Peach with him. The Koopa King had to attend to his duties but he sent his regards and Mr. – and Luigi… Princess Peach didn’t elaborate on this, but her worried expression and Mario’s distrustful glance towards her was enough to tell her that he was still coping with the aftermaths of what had happened.

They were already gone when O’Chunks, after a while of loud silence, finally brought up the name they had been avoiding so far. Not in a way Nastasia had expected.

“We should make a grave for Dimentio, too.”

It took only a second for Mimi to start tethering, talking herself into a rage, saying that he never cared for them and that he doesn’t deserve to have anyone to remember him. Nastasia could only agree, remembering how Dimentio almost killed the Count. O’Chunks only listened, with a stoic expression.

“I am surprised you would say that,” Nastasia said after Mimi needed some time to catch her breath, “after all, you should be the one knowing best how one feels when betrayed by a comrade.”

It was a snarky remark, one to hurt even if he doesn’t deserve it, one she uttered because despite what she tells herself, Dimentio’s betrayal went deep.

O’Chunks stared at her for a bit, before he made them both speechless with what he said.

“That's exactly why. In the end, it was us who betrayed him.”

Those words still haunt Nastasia, unsure what they mean for her. It was true, after all.

They were five people without hope, coming together to end the world, but only one felt lost enough to go through with it.

Nastasia finally opens the drawer and is met with a smile. Dimentio’s mask lies there innocently, one side black, one white. A second passes where she wonders why it is here. She had only found pieces, blasted apart by Dimentio’s last explosion. But of course he wouldn't have one mask, he probably had more spare than this one, in case one of them breaks.

When she takes hold of it, she notices a little paper at the back of it. She flips the mask, looking at a picture that seemed to be ancient. The frame was worn off and the colour on it was faded. She could hardly recognise what the picture tried to show.

On it are two people, both laughing freely without noticing that they were being watched. Both seem to be children, the girl younger than the boy.

Nastasia has no idea who those two people are but she has a feeling that they were what drove Dimentio to his actions.

She stares at it for a bit.

She wonders, sometimes, what he wished for, a desire so strong that made him take the lead on a sinking ship everyone else already jumped off of.

\------------------------------------------

O’Chunks and Mimi had departed.

Nastasia is standing in the shadows of a tree with the first branches already far out of reach from her, while gazing at the path lying before her. She doesn't feel cold, even though the sun gets obscured by massive clouds and a chilly wind sweeps across the field.

There was only one backpack at her side, not big enough for all of her belongings, but she has decided to leave most of it behind. With the goal in mind to find a place where nobody knew her, she wants to start anew.

Leaving behind most of what was hers is one part of it. Not going back to Blumiere’s memorial is another.

She can’t face him and be sure she won’t start stalling her time again. All for this little spark of hope that he may return someday, taking her with him, somewhere just for….

Not liking where her thoughts are going, she looks at her hands, a mask in one and a picture in the other, to distract herself.

She won’t visit Blumiere. But she wants to give Dimentio back what belongs to him.

Walking over the grass, in the direction where they put up a grave for Dimentio, she muses over the words O’Chunks had told Mimi and her.

The whole argument was a bit of a mess, she has to admit. The Count wasn't exactly honest with them either after all. She knew since the beginning that he didn’t plan on creating those perfect worlds he promised to them, and he knew that she knew that. They never talked about it, of course. But Nastasia was hoping she would be able to convince him otherwise, to let him have hope again the way he had given her hope.

It was a foolish act, she knows now, but she couldn't help herself.

How Dimentio knew of the counts scam was a bit of an enigma. They never talked about it in any way. But then, he seemed to know a lot more than he let on, considering it was him that approached them at first - without the prognosticus mentioning him until later on. Maybe he knew from the beginning, maybe later - it did not change the fact that he was up to something.

Dimentio didn’t tell Mimi or O’chunks about the Count’s intentions and he never tried to confront him about it either. It probably didn’t matter that much for him as he never cared for them and she was sure they were merely stepping stones on his way to a perfect world. Maybe they did betray Dimentio, as O’Chunks said, but he already betrayed them since the beginning, pulling strings in the background, deceiving what he wanted from them all and sacrificing their lives so he can get what he wanted.

Nastasia was sure that it didn’t matter if Blumiere actually did make a perfect world. Dimentio would have found a way to control the Chaos Heart no matter the cost.

“It seems we both were not what we pretended to be.”

Before her lies a plain grey stone stuck in the earth with the word Dimentio carved on it. They had nothing to bury other than remains of his clothes and a few parts of his broken mask. Mimi refused to take part in it at all, so it was just O’Chunks and her who made this grave for him.

The sun was powerless to pierce the clouds now, and the wind gets heavier as Nastasia tucks the photo behind the mask and lays both onto the earth. She then stands up, turns around and starts to walk back when suddenly the wind turns unusually cold and makes her shiver a bit. She looks back to see if there is rain to come. Instead she freezes when she sees a silhouette of a fragile figure, taking hold of the mask. The girl looks at it for a second before she removes the photo behind it.

“Who are you?”

Nastasia steps closer, unsure of what to do, but unsettled by the actions of the girl. She seems familiar somehow, but Nastasia can’t make out where she had seen her before.

“It’s funny, isn't it?” the girl says, looking at the mask, “how this is how you remember him.”

“I'm not sure what you….” Nastasia trails off as the girl looks at her and smiles a bit.

“He's been wearing it for so long, I’m afraid he became it... Or maybe, it was always a part of him.”

The girl looks at it for a second before she removes the photo behind it. Then, with one quick motion, she throws the mask away, and before it could even hit the ground it breaks into thousands of pieces, scattering in the wind.

Nastasia is surprised by the sudden movement, falling back a few steps and eyeing the girl nervously.

“Still. I thank you.”

For another few moments, the figure stays unnervingly still, staring at the photo. Then she vanished, taking the wind with her.

The sun slowly creeps out again, peeking past the clouds and as if deciding it was safe now, flooding the land with light and warmth.

With a feeling that she has seen this figure before, Nastasia stays there for a second, unsure of what to do.

She then turns around, in an out of character moment and discarding all thoughts about it, she decides it was finally time to go and put all of it behind her.

Back where she started, she slings the backpack over her shoulders and starts walking down the path where the sun lies, letting behind not only her home, but also the unreachable hope for Blumiere.

She decides to stop waiting and hopes for the luck that had evaded her this far. It was time to take matters into her own hands and find what she is looking for.

The Castle loomes behind her but now, as the sun is shining again, it doesn't look so threatening anymore. Nearly destroyed by its inhabitants, it stays, not giving in to the damage it had received. Instead it tells the story it had witnessed, warning wanderers of the outcome of hopelessness mixed with a heart so black it threatens all those around it.


End file.
